i am a girly girl. a runner. a daughter. a fashionista. a sister. a disney princess at ♥. a lumberjack alumni. a country girl. a coffee addict. a friend. a chocolate lover. a reader. a jeans, t-shirt, and flip flop girl. a movie goer. a grad student.
so we left off sunday night with all of us turning in. my parents headed out the early the next morning to the airport but luckily jessica was staying around for a good part of the day. we decided that meant it was time to finally ride the cable cars! so we trekked down to union square to pick up the famous powell and hyde line that would take us by all the good stuff.
we finally get to have post-race coffee together:)
we landed at the bottom and conveniently stumbled upon the buena vista. this was actually the place we were planning to go for breakfast sunday but just ran out of time before my grandparents came into town. apparently it has a very famous irish coffee so we saddled up to the bar and ordered some coffee, our 2nd of the day hehe. it was delicious and so cool to watch the bartender make tons of coffee for awhile. turns out they actually go through about 80-100 bottles of whiskey on a weekend day! omg thats a lot.
yum!
afterward we explored fishermans wharf a little while and people watching of course. which of course means the sea lions! jessica was very excited and im pretty sure she was scheming ways to take 1 of the little guys home:) we settled on in-n-out for lunch, which i realize isnt very san francisco, but it is very california. and man it was GOOD! i havent had anything like that in months. yum.
lombard street!
it seemed sooner than we both would of liked but we needed to head back to get her to the airport and us to our afternoon tour. we got back right on time and soon jessica was on the bart on her way to the oakland airport. i hate it when we have to say goodbye:/ richard and i hopped on the nearest street car that would take us all the way around to the pier to hop on our cruise to alcatraz! i have always wanted to go there and finally was able to fit it in. as we got closer and closer i started to get worried about the time since you need to arrive 30 minutes before the boat leaves to board. just as we got to the ferry building our driver informed us this would be his last stop since one of the front doors was broken and we would have to wait for the next car behind him in about 5 minutes. so we hopped off, did we really have a choice, and began waiting for the next one. richard started getting more and more upset at this point that we would never make it and now we wasted our money. now when people in san francisco say 5 minutes i swear they really mean at least 30 minutes. by this time we had more than missed our boat and wasnt sure we would be able to get refunded. i decided we should still go to the dock and see if theres anything they can do. richard decided he was fed up waiting and walked down to the pier as i waited for the street car. he apparently needed to blow off steam from something.
finally the street car arrived and i took it down to pier 33 to met him. we went to the window and the lady was amazingly nice, gave us our tickets, and told us we could do stand-by anytime tuesday. she gave the advice to be there for the early ones because they were the easiest to get on. this meant no tour tonight and no plan. after hearing all about how his plans never pan out and no one wants to do the things he wants when he wants to we decided to go see the painted ladies instead. luckily i still had a few maps in my purse, so i set out to figure out the easiest way to get there. it was also getting dark and we needed to get going if we wanted to see them in the daylight! turns out it was actually pretty easy and made it there just after the sun had passed over.
ill be moving in tomorrow:)
it was about dinnertime then and we were both hungry. after a few failed attempts at finding somewhere there, we seemed to keep getting into not such good areas we shouldnt be in after dark or really in the daylight either, we headed back to union square to find a diner instead. it turned out to be delicious and we headed back to crash for our early rise the next morning, determined to make it to alcatraz on the 1st boat out!
already knowing where we were going and how long it would take us to get there we made it in plenty of time to be 1st in the stand-by line tuesday and hopped on to the 1st boat no problem! its a quick trip to alcatraz and there was just a little bit of fog to make it a beautiful morning:) once we got to the island you here some quick safety tips from the park ranger then you are free to explore anywhere you want. get to the top of the hill, which equals a 13 story climb ps, and you get to the jailhouse and you can take an audio tour which we did. it was soooo cool! a little creepy, i wont lie, but very cool. i had no idea there was so much history to it!
the bay bridge.
spooky.
how did we get in here!
the view from alcatraz.
i seriously love divider plates!!
we made it back to the main land about 1230p and headed to pier 39 for lunch. it was finally time for a seafood lunch and the pier is the perfect place! the weather was fantastic all day and after lunch we walked around the shops a bit before grabbing some ice cream and heading back to the hotel before our next tour. i was actually able to sneak in an hour nap in the meantime!
found at the chocolate store at pier 39!
right on time, earlier than we probably needed but we didnt want to be late, we headed to the bart station directly outside to chinatown for our culinary tour. my parents took a culinary tour a few years ago in seattle and still rave about it. so when researching tours in san francisco i found one for chinatown and little italy and with just a little bit of convincing i was able to get richard on board pretty easily! our guide was great and there was only 1 other couple on our tour so it wasnt huge. we started with a tea tasting with all kinds of different chinese tea leaves then headed down back alleys of chinatown i would have never found on my own. next we stopped by a real fortune cookie factory and actual saw the little chinese man making the cookies and putting the fortune inside! i really wanted a picture but didnt have any change to give him:/ but we got to try a chocolate fortune cookie and our guide gave each couple a huge bag to take home!
next we got to taste dim sum at an eastern bakery that apparently bill clinton frequents when he visits haha. it was all kinds of different options and so much food! note to self:: next time i go on a culinary tour go really, really hungry!! luckily we got walk a bit and there was quite a bit of time before our next food stop. we wandered through chinatown and before we knew it we were in little italy. i had no idea they were so close. our guide was awesome and pointed out all kinds of history things along the way. we ended in a little pizza restaurant for some amazing pies and wine! the pizza was like wafer thin and had sooo much flavor. the owner was from rome and you could tell she made each pie with a lot of love:)
afterward we wandered around little italy a bit and found a cafe to have a cup of coffee in. it was delicious and the streets were so alive with people at 9pm on a tuesday night! man i would live in san francisco if i could:) we headed back soon after to pack since the next morning we were heading home. i was kinda sad to leave in a different way since we were able to spend so much time in the city on this trip. we had an amazing time and i am soooo grateful to my parents and jessica that came out to support too! to have so many faces travel with you and cheer you on such a big race is more than a girl could ask for:) till our next group adventure!!
i hope you are ready for a whole lot of pictures! i think between all of us we took more pictures than ever before, and i love it:) so thursday night began with a long-distance packing phone call between jessica and i in her seriously exhausted state after not getting much sleep the last few days. as we were trying to figure out what to pack and not my parents were trying to fly to oakland to stay with my grandparents for a few days but couldnt get out of the airport because las vegas actually decided to have weather complete with hail and flash floods! it was an interesting start to the trip to say the least haha. friday morning richard and i were up around 7a to make it to the airport to find my parents made it ok, but my moms luggage didnt, along with jessica boarding her plane at the last second because she wasnt super paying attention! like i said, interesting start. once we arrived in oakland we found jessica anxiously waiting for us in the baggage claim and boarded the bus to the bart station pretty easily. i apparently cant read a map correctly (im usually so good at it) and had us going about 20 minutes in the wrong direction! after jessica got us back on track we arrived in the city right on time to check into the hotel. we had booked it online and werent totally sure what to expect. the plus...it was literally steps from the bus stop and the bart station. the minus...it was in a really not so good area. so thank goodness for those transportation stops!! we checked in no problem and set our sights on subway across the street for a very late lunch. we ate quickly because we were so hungry deciding to head down a few blocks to check out some shopping. the plan was to just kind of hang out the 1st day since we were doing most of our tourist things when my parents came into the city the next day. after a rather scary walk down the wrong side of the street we headed into the westfield mall to the be a little overwhelmed. it wasnt like any mall we see in vegas or phoenix! still very cool and it helped pass the time, plus jessica and i found this amazing chocolate shop that had amazing combos i had never seen before.
not really knowing what to do after finishing we continued our shopping spree into union square and saw where the expo was being held! we were going there saturday morning with my mom so we steered clear. we decided on burger bar for dinner because jessica had never been and it satisfied all our culinary tastes! it was amazing as always and i was glad to walk it off a little bit afterward. we were soon able to meet up with betsy aka the everday warrior!! she and i had teamed up many months ago meeting over blogs and twitter to get a ticket into nike so i knew we needed to meet in person. we met at her hotel that had a great bar on the 39th floor with beautiful views. i was so glad to finally meet! soon afterward we decided it was time to head back to our hotel and turn in with such the long day of travel.
we finally meet!!!
saturday morning my parents were right on time with their bart train to meet at our hotel to head to the expo! my mom, jessica, and i took out coffee/tea with us as we headed to the fun while the boys stayed at starbucks. the expo was really cool and lots of photo ops of course:) inside the actual tent you are able to pick up your packet, check out a few of the sponsor products, and see some exhibits. the gear is all located across the street at niketown which we called in the boys for. i had seen a litle glimps online earlier in the week and knew my budget would be quickly out the window! oh man was it worth it though:)
after we got all our gear, bib, and took lots of pictures it was time for our hop on/hop off tour! it picked us up right in union square and our tour guide was hillarious. we got off at one of the 1st stops in chinatown and had a few eggrolls as we walked around! it was seriously cool. the tour buses are supposed to run every 1/2 hour so we headed back soon to the drop off point only to wait over an hour for the next bus. after much debate we decided to get off soon at the embarcedaro to walk down to the ferry building for lunch. well turns out i misjudged it a little (or a lot) and it ended up being about a 1 mile walk each way, oops. lunch was delicious once we finally got there and we decided no more getting off the bus once we caught it again.
one of each please!
we returned to the drop off point only to wait another really long time for the next bus. we decided to walk down just a little to pier 39 and actually caught the bus pretty quickly, thank goodness because i couldnt handle the anger anymore. the top of the bus was actually quite chilly with the wind and decided against our new plan of not getting off the bus again when we got to the golden gate bridge. i mean, really can you not get off for that??
as we waited for the bus to come back and pick us up, late again, i started dreaming about getting to little italy later for carboloading! my dad kept trying to convince us we needed to stay at the hotel and eat at the restaurant there. luckily i had lots of backup to help me veto:) we finished off our tour and headed back to the hotel to get warmer clothes. seriously, if you have an opportunity to do a hop on/hop off tour i highly suggest it, it was super fun, well when the buses were there to pick us up!
the chinese tea garden
jimi hendrixs house!
the adams family home.
city hall!
we headed to little italy soon after to lots of indecissiveness from my family and i was getting so hungry i just made the final choice. turned out to be a family style restraunt with absolutely amazing food. it was bursting with flavor and was just the right amount of food. plus i got to eat off of everyone elses plates, which is one of my favorite things ever:) i think we might have waddled back to the hotel after that one! sleep came pretty easy that night once back at the hotel with full bellys and early alarms set.
sunday morning was the big day! and i will recap the whole thing here...that you get to wait for:) after the race we headed back ot the middle of the city and found a really great cafe still serving breakfast at almost noontime. we had an original plan of going to a place down by fishermans wharf that was suggested to my dad by his friends. but we stayed a little bit longer at the nike race and then my grandparents decided to come into the city about 2 hours early! needless to say our plans were switched around pretty well haha. spending time with them though was great and my grandma even brought my all time favorite cookies for me:)
our irish coffees, yum!
it was finally time for a shower, thank goodness! we decided to shower and chill out for just a bit before heading down to pier 39 for dinner and then onto the promise land...ghiradelli square for ice cream!!!! i finally got to have clam chowder and ice cream and in the same meal. it was glorious:)
yum!
we headed back to the hotel soon after since my parents had an early flight and there hadnt been a nap post race. i wont lie that i was getting a little sad part of our big group would be leaving:( i had a blast with everyone and am soooo soooo glad they were all able to make the trip! it wouldnt have been the same without everyone:)
wow oh wow am i behind! so lets backtrack aways and ill catch you up fast so we can get to the good stuff!! the week before a race has really great high points-knowing youve made it, carboloading, and probably fun travel-and some low points known as taper madness-i.e. we worry we didnt train enough or what about that extra rest day, do i have everything i need, or i just want to go out and run. this week was of course no different, plus add lots of schoolwork to get done before i left and you have one seriously crazy week.
just ignore that sunday 13 miler. my weeks and daily miles weeks dont quite match up:)
sunday~rest. rest
i wish i could say this was my typical sleep in/lounge around sunday, but this one was filled with all homework! at least i got my midterm done in plenty of time:)
monday~4-5 miles. 4.72 miles = 44:31 minutes/9:25 min/mile
we had some old faces return this week at my runner group with the nicer weather! it was great to see some of our original members and that hill was a great reminder of what i had going on that weekend. the weather was even great for an evening run that night!
tuesday~spin. 5am spin class 2.1 miles = 21:12 minutes/10:05 min/mile
i finally made it to spin class! without pt in the morning i was able to really get back to my original schedule. i really missed spin and i for sure left all the sweat possible in that room! i bought a new pair of shorts to go underneath my runner outfit on sunday and had to try them out so i hopped on the treadmill after spin class to make sure they would work. i forgot how interesting running on the treadmill at the gym is. people watching is fantastic!
wednesday~4 miles. 5.2 miles = 48:09 minutes/9:15 min/mile
note to self: when the plan says 4 miles, stick to 4 miles haha. i got a little too excited about running, the really great weather, and the fact it was my last official day of training before the race. i also forgot i had added an extra 2 miles to the day before, oops. i kept a good pace but next time just stick to that 4 mile plan.
thursday~rest. rest
i love a good list:)
friday~rest. rest/travel
we finally made it to san francisco!!! up and early friday morning and to the airport we were off. the day took some interesting turns, more about all of that in my trip recaps:)
saturday~rest. rest/sight see
THE EXPO!! and the omg reality that i am really about to run 13.1 miles in the morning:)
totals for the week = 12.02 miles + 1 cross-training session.
even with all the craziness of the week i still was somehow able to get everything in. and we had a great ending to the week with the san francisco adventure officially beginning! i will have TONS more about our trip in the upcoming posts:)
well it is officially race week here!!! which also means we are officially in taper and carb load mode, 2 of my favorite parts of racing hehe :) this time next week i will be snuggled in my san francisco hotel with bff and bf probably sore as all get out and loving it. ok, im getting ahead of myself! back to this last week!
sunday~rest. rest
these sundays are the best when you can just sleep as long as you want and then have nothing going on for the day. love it:)
monday~4-5 miles. 4.72 miles = 43:25 minutes/9:11 min/mile
we actually had a decent size group this week, there were 6 of us! thats big for our monday nights in the last few months. temperatures are finally getting nice and that usually brings out some extra runners. after my major hip last week jen was sure to not let that happen again, she had us flyin up that damn hill! it was great and i felt really good after:)
yay 6 people!
tuesday~spin.
1 hour of pt
i havent been sleeping super great lately so i decided to skip body flow this week since i was going to pt anyway. and i got great news...if i was feeling this strong on thursday i could be cleared!! just in time for nike and i was crossing a lot of limbs haha.
wednesday~4 miles.
4.11 miles = 37:22 miles/9:05 min/mile
felt the need for a little bit differnt route so i took little pieces of a few i do and was able to put them together for the 4 miles. it has been so nice lately not run with the wind, but i should have known that wouldnt last long! i swear it only blows when it can be in my face for the little bit of incline on the way home. well at least some things never change haha.
thursday~body pump.
1 hour of pt
apparently i decided that pt was going to be my cross-training this week! sometimes you just need more sleep and this was 1 of those weeks. this time at pt though i got to talk quite a bit with ron about running long term, it was so helpful! we talked training plans and mileage and the time commitment it really takes to do all these things. then i got some excercises and direction now that i am finished with pt and was on my way! hard to believe im really done. i cant thank ron enough for all the help and encouragement he gave me while i was doing all this! officially cleared:)
friday~rest.
rest
a full day of work and car service later i gladly took the rest day:)
saturday~4 miles.
6.52 miles = 58:48 minutes/9:01 min/mile
just when i thought i could skip the 5am wake up call i volunteered to go in early to help with an event. that meant i was still up at 5am even without a big distance, dang it. i had long ago decided i was going to do more than 4 so i had a perfect 6 miles laid out. then i got to about 3 miles and saw how dark it was on the part of the road i needed to go on next and decided to adapt the route (safety 1st people!!). that meant adding a 1/2 mile more which really wasnt the biggest deal ever. however i was sooo friggin sore afterward. i mean like i should have run at least 10 to be that sore. luckily i was wondering around a lot at work and by the time i was off at 230p i was feeling back to normal.
totals for the week = 15.35 miles + 2 sessions of pt.
my last full training week is in the books!! that was the start of taper, now we get to go full force. only a few training days and then off to board the plane!
total run mileage: 72.88 miles highest weekly run mileage: 19.99 miles # runs: 11 # rest days: 15
# xtraining workouts: 4
# pt sessions : 8
favorite run: my hilly 9 miler with jenn! somehow i convinced her running at 5am on hills was a good idea haha. it was my first long run with a friend ever and im so glad i finally broke that streak! seriously, such a blast to have someone to run with.
most hardcore run: my flat 10 miler. which should sound a lot easier than it should have been. i took a few extra days off that week after i lost a toenail tuesday night and for some reason that meant that distance was tough. im pretty sure it was all in my head which sometimes i think plays more tricks on her mind than just about anything else.
current reads: it happened again:( all my homework should be no excuse for not reading anything outside of schoolwork. i promise, october is going to be the one i get back on reading track!
current shame-inducing guilty pleasure: the creamer i add to my coffee hehe. joanie really tried to break me of this one and i do have more days that i add almond milk rather than creamer. but i just cant give this one all the way up!
in one of my favorite cups:)
current obsession: stalking the shelves for anything pumpkin. see even though its still hitting 100* a few times a week here, everywhere else it is fall. which means i am starting to see TONS of pumpkin pictures from all over the place and i am ready for it here.
current drink : same as august, lots of water!
current song: pontoon by little big town. its the perfect song to send off summer!
current wish-list:some extra cash to buy new running clothes. not really cause i need them, but cause i want them:) who says no to new clothes?!
current need: the weather to cool so i can wear boots! ooooh im so ready to bust them out of my closet!!
its fall time inside, now it needs to be outside too!
current triumph: my final results from joanie!! in case you missed them…
17 pounds lost! (its now 18)
43 inches have disappeared!
29% body fat->19% body fat!
current bane of my existence: that racing is expensive! i have been compiling a life bucket list lately and a race bucket list and man do those races start to really add up! ok, so the actual race really isnt that expensive but the travel and staying wherever definitely adds up quickly. we should start a runner exchange in peoples houses, where you can switch places for race weekends to save on cost! if that wasn’t potentially so creepy or scary i would be all over it haha.
current goal: keep up the great things i started with joanie. its actually been easier to stick on the plan than i thought. but now its about planning for the long term. i can do this!
yum!! i miss these healthy meals when i dont have them.
current indulgence: my pumpkin chocolate chip cookies i baked the other day! they are low fat with no butter or oil. if i can fit them in my daily food i am definitely having one!
current excitement: the san francisco trip is planned! richard and i sat down last weekend and decided on the things we want to do after the family leaves. so we are officially all ready! we tried to leave things open a bit the whole weekend so if we see something we really want to add we dont have to sacrifice anything.
